Buxbaum Group News - March 29, 2010

HOFF FAMILY JEWELERS GIVES DISCOUNTS OF UP TO 80%-OFF IN YEAR-LONG SALES - Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors helps St. Paul jeweler double its inventory of stylish, hand-picked pieces.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (3/29/10) – When Frank Hoff founded what is today Hoff Family Jewelers in 1938, the country was still in the grip of the Great Depression. Survival hinged on giving customers the right combination of service, hands-on expertise and quality merchandise at a competitive price. Today, Hoff’s son Steve, owner of the retailers’ stores at Maplewood and Northtown malls, is using precisely the same strategy to contend with the so-called Great Recession.

For the better part of 2010, Hoff’s two 1,800-sq.-ft. stores will be offering approximately 6,000 pieces of jewelry valued at nearly $8 million, with discounts of up to 80%-off on select pieces. The collection is particularly strong in bridal and anniversary designs, at diverse price points, Hoff said.

“My plan is to do exactly what my father did 72 years ago when he started this company,” Hoff said. “My father was very service-oriented and spent the better part of his day at the workbench. He personally trained me when I joined him in 1979. As a result, we believe our stores have an edge over the national chains when it comes to offering insightful customer service and expertise about what makes for a quality piece of jewelry.”

Thanks to the company’s new strategic relationship with Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors, moreover, jewelry shoppers in St. Paul will find a hand-picked selection of merchandise that is even more competitive in its quality, style and affordability, Hoff said. Through its contacts with top designers and manufacturers, Buxbaum is now helping Hoff find special deals on merchandise that would have been unavailable prior to the recession, which has hit the jewelry sector particularly hard, said Bob Grant, Vice President and Director of Merchandising and Marketing for the consultancy, a division of Agoura Hills, Calif.-based Buxbaum Group. “These stores are carrying about double the inventory they had just a few months back, and we continue to add new pieces,” he noted.

After joining the family business in 1979, Hoff gradually expanded the company from its one store on the corner of Dale and Como streets to locations in 12 regional malls in three states, forging ties with a number of international partners along the way. However, due in part to problems with international financial partners that were brought in to help with the company’s aggressive expansion, in 2008 he chose to take the company back to its roots in the Twin Cities. This included dissolving all corporate and commercial ties to Hoff’s international partners, and liquidating their joint assets. “I retained the leases on our two current stores and have re-established the close customer and community ties that made Hoff Family Jewelers a household name in St. Paul,” he said. “Hoff is definitely back.”

While U.S. chain stores buy their merchandise based on overarching national trends, Hoff is working with the certified gemologists at Buxbaum to find pieces that match the styles, categories and prices local customers in St. Paul demand, Grant added. “Steve, who is a certified gemologist, has a great feel for what his customers like, having served this market for so many years,” he said. “Buying the right piece for your customer often comes down to a feeling or a hunch—buyers for the national chain stores rely on very different criteria.”

Buxbaum, which will provide assistance with marketing and promotions throughout the year-long sales, has helped several regional and local jewelers execute such strategies since the recession began. “A key part of our approach is that, unlike the common practice at some turnaround consultancies, we do not try to pressure our retail clients to buy inventories that our firm has purchased from bankruptcy closeout sales,” Grant explained. “Rather, our focus is on working with clients to hand-pick pieces they know will appeal to their existing and prospective customers. It’s an approach based on respect for our clients’ experience in their own local markets.”

However, Buxbaum has learned important lessons in recent months about how jewelry customers’ preferences are changing along with the economy, and is bringing this knowledge to bear as it works with a growing number of jewelry retailers to forge more competitive strategies, Grant said. “The same customers that bought jewelry two years ago prior to the recession are buying this year as well,” he noted. “But instead of buying $5,000 pieces, they might buy $500 pieces where the emphasis is on chic design, or on alternative metals. Gold, after all, is at $1,100 an ounce.”

Despite the emphasis on value in the retail world today, the look, feel and quality of a piece of jewelry continue to be critical to discerning customers, Grant added. “Price is very important, but design is even more crucial today,” he said. “This is where companies like Hoff Diamond and Gems have an edge. They’ve spent decades learning both the business and their customers.”

For further information on the sale, call (651) 773-3464 (Maplewood store) or (763) 785-7881 (Northtown).

About Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors/Buxbaum Group - Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors has assembled a team of jewelry professionals that have provided wholesale and retail jewelers with financial solutions for more than 20 years. It offers a wide range of services and can meet the needs of both profitable and financially distressed jewelry retailers and wholesalers. It is a division of Agoura Hills, Calif.-based Buxbaum Group, which has built its reputation for over 30 years as one of the largest liquidators and appraisers of retail and wholesale inventories across North America.

Press Contacts: At Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors, Bob Grant, (248) 318-6816; at Parness & Associates Public Relations, Bill Parness or Lisa Kreda, (732) 290-0121.

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